What is a selfie worth?

14 May 2018

How far would you go to take a nice selfie? As someone who has never understood the attraction or point of photographing oneself, I really don’t get it. The only time I want to appear in a photograph is when there is an occasion for it, such as at an event or family gathering. What am I going to do with a collection of my own mugshots? Even though I don’t get it, I don’t mind people taking selfies, so long as they are not bothering others. And the vast majority of selfie-takers are considerate, so let selfie-takers be.

People sometimes go too far in taking selfies however, and this is an example that I encountered recently when I went on a leisurely walk through Richmond Park. The bluebells are blooming and certain areas of the Isabella Plantation are carpets of blue. It is simply stunning. I can see why people want to take photographs: I do too. However I believe people should stick to the paths, and not just wade into the bluebells.

Two people – probably friends – did exactly that, trampling on some bluebells, and started to snap photographs and selfies. At one point one of them was photographing the other person taking a selfie. The mind boggles. Why? What’s the point? Why destroy something for your own pleasure and deprive others of that beauty? Are they going to share these tainted images with their friends on social media? If so, is the approbation on social media worth the destruction? They were not alone, in that there were other areas where the grass and bluebells suggested that people had stepped on them.

I don’t really follow people who take lots of selfies on various social media platforms, but when I encounter them, I have to wonder went into taking them. If they put in an effort, then I have no qualms about it even if it is incomprehensible to me, but I do have to question their judgement if they had taken unnecessary risks in taking pictures or endangered someone or caused damage to something.